Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Page #4

Joel sits on the bench waiting for a train. Clementine

enters the platform, sees Joel, the only other person there.

She waves, sort of goofily enthusiastic, playing as if

they're old friends. He waves back, embarrassed. She takes

a seat on a bench far down the platform. Joel stares at his

hands, pulls out his journal and tries to write in order to

conceal his awkwardness.

INT. TRAIN - A BIT LATER

Joel sits at the far end of the empty car and watches the

slowly passing desolate terrain. After a moment the door

between cars opens and Clementine enters. Joel looks up.

Clementine is not looking at him; she busies herself deciding

where to sit. She settles on a seat at the opposite end of

the car. Joel looks out the window. He feels her watching

him. The train is picking up speed. Finally:

CLEMENTINE:

(calling over the rumble)

Hi!

Joel looks over.

JOEL:

I'm sorry.

CLEMENTINE:

Why?

JOEL:

Why what?

CLEMENTINE:

Why are you sorry? I just said hi.

JOEL:

No, I didn't know if you were talking to

me, so...

She looks around the empty car.

CLEMENTINE:

Really?

JOEL:

(embarrassed)

Well, I didn't want to assume.

CLEMENTINE:

Aw, c'mon, live dangerously. Take the

leap and assume someone is talking to you

in an otherwise empty car.

JOEL:

Anyway. Sorry. Hi.

Clementine makes her way down the aisle towards Joel.

CLEMENTINE:

It's okay if I sit closer? So I don't

have to scream. Not that I don't need to

scream sometimes, believe me.

(pause)

But I don't want to bug you if you're

trying to write or something.

JOEL:

No, I mean, I don't know. I can't really

think of much to say probably.

CLEMENTINE:

Oh. So...

She hesitates in the middle of the car, looks back where she

came from.

JOEL:

I mean, it's okay if you want to sit down

here. I didn't mean to --

CLEMENTINE:

No, I don't want to bug you if you're

trying to --

JOEL:

It's okay, really.

CLEMENTINE:

Just, you know, to chat a little, maybe.

I have a long trip ahead of me.

(sits across aisle from Joel)

How far are you going? On the train, I

mean, of course.

JOEL:

Rockville Center.

CLEMENTINE:

Get out! Me too! What are the odds?

JOEL:

The weirder part is I think actually I

recognize you. I thought that earlier in

the diner. That's why I was looking at

you. You work at Borders, right?

CLEMENTINE:

Ucch, really? You're kidding. God.

Bizarre small world, huh? Yeah, that's

me:
book slave there for, like, five

years now.

JOEL:

Really? Because --

CLEMENTINE:

Jesus, is it five years? I gotta quit

right now.

JOEL:

-- because I go there all the time. I

don't think I ever saw you before.

CLEMENTINE:

Well, I'm there. I hide in the back as

much as is humanly possible. You have a

cell phone? I need to quit right this

minute. I'll call in dead.

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